Mebane council to hear three rezoning requests, ordinance change June 1

Three Mebane parcels could change what gets built next to longtime homes, with one West End lot moving toward denser residential use, another shifting from lower-density housing to a tighter residential district, and a South Fifth Street property potentially opening the door to business development.

The Mebane City Council will hold public hearings Monday at 6 p.m. on requests tied to 300 Giles Street, 703 West McKinley Street and 203 South Fifth Street, along with a text amendment to Section 4-2(B) of the city’s Unified Development Ordinance. The Giles Street request would rezone the property from B-3, Neighborhood Business District, to R-15, Residential District. The McKinley Street parcel would move from R-20 to R-8, and the South Fifth Street property would shift from R-12 to B-3.

At 300 Giles Street, applicant Antonio Mosqueda is seeking the change on a parcel that spans just over a third of an acre, about 16,988 square feet, in Mebane’s historically Black West End. City water and sewer are already available there, and the city has had an active condemnation case involving the uninhabitable house on the lot. That makes the rezoning more than a map adjustment: it could determine whether the site is restored as a residential parcel or becomes part of a more intensive redevelopment pattern on a street that is already changing.

The 703 West McKinley Street request, filed by Jenny Whitt of Whitt Real Estate Investments, Inc., covers just over two-thirds of an acre, about 30,000 square feet, on the Alamance County side of Mebane. The property also has city water and sewer available. Surrounding uses include single-family homes, duplexes and one of the city’s pocket parks, so the requested move from R-20 to R-8 could carry immediate neighborhood implications, especially for density, buffers and future housing mix.

The third request, at 203 South Fifth Street, comes from Nicole Cockerham and would move the parcel from residential zoning to B-3 business zoning. That change would be the most visible shift in use, since it would give the site commercial potential where housing now defines the district.

The council’s action will follow the city’s usual process. The Planning Board is advisory only and makes recommendations on rezonings and Unified Development Ordinance text amendments, while planning staff enforce the ordinance and track cases through the city’s development map. Council meetings begin at 6 p.m. in Mebane City Hall Council Chambers at 106 E. Washington Street.

The June 1 hearings come after the city already moved on related West End rezonings. On May 4, council approved the Giles Street request unanimously and approved the West McKinley request by a 4-1 vote, signaling that Mebane’s growth strategy is still being shaped block by block, not by one sweeping plan.